India have ended their 2021 T20 World Cup campaign with a 9-wicket victory over Namibia, although it's not enough to get them through to the next stage of the tournament.
Playing his last match as India's T20I skipper, Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl first in Dubai. Ravichandran Ashwin (3/20) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/16) helped restrict Namibia to 132/8.
India was in full control of the chase throughout with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul scoring half centuries before Rohit fell on 56 and KL Rahul finished off the chase alongside Suryakumar Yadav.
With only two teams from each group progressing to the semi-finals, India's campaign at the 2021 T20 World Cup ended on Monday night as they finish third in the standings.
During the chase, India blasted 54 runs in the powerplay, 39 of those coming from Sharma's bat. He had luck on his side, with his one-handed pull put down by Michale van Lingen at fine leg and rolling to the boundary rope for four in the opening over. That drop proved to be costly as Sharma took a four and six off David Wiese followed by another four off Rubel Trumpelmann. Rahul joined the party with a short-arm jab-pull off Wiese over deep mid-wicket in the fourth over.
Post the powerplay, Sharma continued his strong show, taking two boundaries before reaching his second half-century of the tournament in the eighth over. Jan Frylinck broke the opening partnership at 86 as Sharma skied a cross-bat slog to keeper Zane Green. After Sharma's dismissal, Rahul was at his elegant best with wristy flick and clean lofted boundaries.
Suryakumar Yadav, promoted to number three, creamed a flurry of boundaries, with a loft over extra cover and scoop over fine leg standing out as India inched closer to the target. Rahul reached his third half-century of the tournament with a single to long-on before finishing off the chase with a four through long-off.
Earlier, after being put into bat first, Namibia had a brisk start with 31 runs in four overs. Jasprit Bumrah made the first breakthrough for India as Michael van Lingen mistimed a bouncer to mid-off. In the next over, Jadeja had Craig Williams stumped for a four-ball duck. Jadeja returned in the eighth over to trap Stephan Baard lbw while going for a sweep. Baard went for the DRS but it showed ball crashing towards the top of middle and leg stump.
Ashwin took a wicket on his first ball of the match as Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton edged straight to first slip. Though Gerhard Erasmus and David Wiese struck a boundary each off Rahul Chahar, Ashwin returned to take out Erasmus, with outer edge snapped by keeper Rishabh Pant.
Wiese and JJ Smit continued to take Chahar for boundaries. But Jadeja took out Smit on the last ball of middle overs phase, with Rohit Sharma taking a forward diving catch at cover. In the next over, Ashwin beat Zane Green's defence to hit the top of middle stump.
Bumrah's slower one accounted for Wiese in the 19th over, applying brakes on a possible finishing flourish. Rubel Trumplemann smashed a six and four on consecutive deliveries in the final over off Mohammed Shami to take Namibia past the 130-mark.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)